Senior Regulatory News (SNR)

19 Oct 2009 07:00



Senior plc

Interim Management Statement for the three months ended 30 September 2009

Senior plc ("Senior" or "the Group"), an international manufacturer of high technology components and systems, principally for the worldwide aerospace, defence, land vehicle and energy markets, issues this interim management statement for the three-month period ended 30 September 2009 (the "third quarter").

Trading

Overall, trading during the third quarter was healthy with the Group's adjusted profit before tax coming in ahead of the Board's expectations, largely because of a stronger performance from the Flexonics Division.  The Group also continued to benefit from the decisive actions taken by management to reduce the Group's cost base at the end of 2008 and beginning of 2009.  Yearߛtoߛdate cash generation has been strong with net debt at the end of September, of £123.3m, being well below the £174.5m at the start of the year.

Markets and Operations

Senior operates through two Divisions: Aerospace (61% of H1 2009 Group sales) and Flexonics (39% of H1 2009 Group sales).

Within the aerospace markets, production of large commercial aircraft (40% of H1 2009 Aerospace Division sales) remained healthy with Boeing and Airbus delivering a combined 217 aircraft in the quarter (Q3 2008: 188 aircraft). However, continued customer de-stocking meant that this increase was not reflected in the level of Divisional sales. The combined Boeing / Airbus net order intake of 134 aircraft (155 aircraft less 21 cancellations) was the best quarter of the year for order intake, although still well below the level of deliveries. In addition, Boeing announced that its 787 aircraft, an important future programme for Senior, is now scheduled to fly for the first time towards the end of 2009. Elsewhere in the Division, the Group's defence markets (26% of H1 2009 Aerospace Division sales) remained at satisfactory levels but the regional and business jet markets (a combined 20% of H1 2009 Aerospace Division sales) continued to weaken.

In the Flexonics Division, the third quarter saw a much improved performance in land vehicle markets (45% of H1 2009 Flexonics Division sales). Demand improvements for passenger vehicles, driven mainly by short-term Government incentive programmes, and volumes brought forward because of impending tighter emission legislation in North America for commercial vehicles from 1 January 2010, led to increases in the Group's production levels.  Industrial markets (55% of H1 2009 Division sales) remained relatively robust, with the Group's sales of large expansion joints holding up particularly well.

Outlook

The stronger than expected third quarter contribution from the Flexonics Division means the Group's results for the full year are now expected to be towards the top end of current market expectations.

Whilst Senior's end markets are expected to remain challenging, the Group is strongly cash generative, well financed for the long term, and continues to benefit from the diversity of the markets in which it participates.  Further, the Group is expected to benefit from the significant content it has on the Boeing 787 and Joint Strike Fighter programmes, as well as from the growing need for environmental solutions in the land vehicle and energy markets.  Consequently, the long-term prospects for the Group remain encouraging. 

Other

The Group intends to issue a pre-close trading update in December 2009, ahead of its full year results announcement on Monday 1 March 2010.

Further information

About Senior

Senior is an international manufacturing group with operations in 11 countries. It is listed on the main market of the London Stock Exchange (symbol SNR).  Senior designs, manufactures and markets high technology components and systems for the principal original equipment producers in the worldwide aerospace, defence, land vehicle and energy markets.  Further information on Senior plc, may be found at: www.seniorplc.com

Cautionary Statement

This announcement contains certain forward-looking statements.  Such statements are made by the Directors in good faith based on the information available to them at the time of the announcement and they should be treated with caution due to the inherent uncertainties underlying any such forward-looking information.